


Open and Closed

by Aeronomatron



Series: Aero writes about gay [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abusive Relationships (implied), Dogs, Fluff, M/M, Swearing, andromeda bullies kirito, by attempting to suffocate him under blankets, hiiii cal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 16:09:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17922071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeronomatron/pseuds/Aeronomatron
Summary: “I had another partner a while ago. Felix.”“How’d it go?”“We… ended.” His voice was pained.





	Open and Closed

**Author's Note:**

> not beta read like all of my previous works
> 
>  
> 
> we go down like fools

It’s cold out.

The blizzard outside is showing no signs of slowing down, fat white snowflakes diving down from the grey clouds and obscuring anything more than five feet away from the window. The deck and driveway are already piled with white, a good five inches deep. Wind slaps the flakes against the window panes again and again.

There’s a bit of frost lining the sides of the window already. A tree creaks overhead, limbs laden with white, then gives in, dumping its load on the ground underneath. 

Inside, though, is cozy and warm. Suki has the heating system turned on max, and is currently sitting at the table drinking coffee and typing on his computer. Kirito, meanwhile, had retreated back to the couch-bed after a quick breakfast and is now curled up under a thick pile of blankets.

Similarly, Andromeda is lying near Kirito, a blanket half over her back. She raises her head, flicking an ear before settling back down.

Kuldrik is basking in its heat lamp, as usual. It’s side is pressed against the glass of the terrarium, eyes closed. The bearded dragon lazily flicks a tongue out, then twitches its tail.

Suki moves to refill his coffee, and Andromeda perks up, tail wagging tentatively. Her gaze follows the man as he gets up and meanders towards the counter. The husky stands up, climbing over the Kirito-pile on the bed and hops down to the floor, claws clicking on the floor.

She looks up at Suki hopefully.

“Go back to pestering Kirito,” Suki grumbles, shooing her away.

The canine whines, sitting down by his feet, then nudges Suki’s leg. Suki heaves a sigh, filling his mug and ignoring her. He goes to sit back down at the table, and she whines again.

Andromeda barks, standing up. She returns to the bed, nosing the arm that’s sticking out from under the blanket-nest, trying to wake up Kirito.

“Go away, Andromeda.” Kirito’s voice was muffled, coming from underneath the blankets.

The black-furred husky merely starts to lick his exposed arm, and Kirito gives a yelp of horror, immediately retracting his hand. Andromeda is undeterred and begins to dig the blankets off of him.

“SUKI!” Kirito wails. “HELP ME!”

“Sorry, I’m busy,” the other man chuckles, sipping at his mug. “Good luck fending off Andromeda.”

After a small game of can-the-dog-steal-Kirito’s-blankets, Andromeda gives up and promptly climbs on the pile, squashing Kirito underneath. She flops down in a comfortable position and seems content to keep the man semi-trapped underneath her.

“Fine, fuck off,” Kirito grouses. He manages to wriggle around so that Andromeda is laying across his legs instead of his torso.

A companionable silence reigns for about five minutes before Kirito catches the barely-noticeable sound of Suki’s breath hitching. He looks up just in time to notice his boyfriend's muscles tensing. Something's wrong.

He manages to shove the husky off, who falls over with an undignified yelp, and sits up, piling the blankets off to one side. Slightly cooler air swoops in immediately to brush against the bits of his body that are bared, and he shivers before standing up and making his way over to Suki, Andromeda trailing at his heels.

“...Suki? You good?”

Kirito sits down next to him, slinging an arm around his lover’s shoulders. Andromeda rests her head in Suki’s lap, whining softly, and the man absently runs a hand over her smooth fur and scratches behind her ears. The husky yips happily.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Suki mutters, leaning against Kirito, his coffee left forgotten and cooling on the table.

The brunette blinks. “What makes you say that?”

Suki sighs. “Memories. And this.”

He moves the laptop so that Kirito can see what’s on the screen. It’s an email, apparently sent by someone named “Felix”. He skims the email’s body, then frowns.

“It says he wants to apologize,” Kirito murmurs slowly, eyes darting back and forth. “He wants to know how you’ve been doing recently.”

“I had another partner a while ago,” Suki starts. “Felix.”

“How’d it go?”

“We… ended.” His voice was pained.

Kirito shifted slightly. It was clear the mere mention of Felix’s name brought back a rush of memories to Suki, and probably none of them good.

“I’d like to hear more about Felix, if you don’t mind,” Kirito tentatively prodded. “Of course, you don’t have to…”

“You should know,” Suki says firmly. “It’s been years since we were together. Anyway, it wasn’t fair I kept this from you for so long.”

Kirito takes his arm, leading him back to the bed and sitting him down firmly. He snatched a blanket from the pile and draped it over Suki’s broad shoulders, tucking himself besides his lover. Andromeda, sensing what she probably thought was “group bonding time”, quickly hopped on Suki’s lap, lying down with her head on her paws.

“He was a lying, manipulative person that brought nothing but pain for me.”

* * *

The doorbell rang.

Suki raced to answer it, His shitty flat was rather small, but cluttered. Most of the living room was taken up by a battered old couch, and the kitchen was separated from it by a tiny kitchen island and a haphazard stack of miscellaneous items.

He hopped over the couch and fumbled with the lock, his tired brain causing his aim to take a sharp dive as he tried to undo the latch.

Bright red eyes surveyed the room, landing on Suki as he leaned against the doorway, panting. Felix wandered into the area, sighing.

“Your place is not looking great,” he remarked, running a hand along a small table with a stack of papers perched haphazardly on it.

Suki shut the door behind him, slumping against the wall.

“Work is hell,” he groaned, rolling his shoulders. “My boss cut my paycheck again. Said I’d have to work the overnight shift to get fully paid.”

“That’s hard,” agreed Felix, swinging around and staring at him with piercing crimson eyes. “You should take more initiative, babe. The way you’re living right now isn’t healthy.”

Suki cast his gaze at the floor. “Nowhere else is hiring. I don’t have the requirements for a higher job, anyway.”

He started when Felix pulled him up, folding him into a hug. “You’ll be fine,” Felix said softly, warm breath tickling Suki’s ear.

“Th-there’s casserole in the fridge,” Suki mumbled, long white strands of hair cascading over Felix’s arms as his lover guided him to the kitchen. “Felix… I missed you.”

“I’m sure you did. I’m here now, Suki.”

He sat Suki down at the island and made his way around the familiar area, taking out the cold dish and scooping small portions out into a reasonably clean bowl. He poured out some water into a tall glass, as well.

Suki didn’t notice his boyfriend slip the small bottle out of his pocket or shake a few small pills into the water. They dissolved almost instantly.

As the microwave beeped, Felix took the now-warm bowl and the water and plunked both down on the island.

“Eat,” Felix ordered gently, handing him a spoon.

“Aren’t you hungry too?”

“Nah. I already had dinner. Casserole looks good, though. Did you make it?”

Suki nodded, sweeping his hair back behind his shoulders.

“Glad to see you’re not living off just cheap pizza.”

Felix slung an arm around the other and they sat in companionable silence, with the only sounds being the clinking of the spoon against the bowl and Suki’s chewing.

The shorter male downed the last of the water, then picked up the bowl, setting it in the pile of dirty dishes in the sink he’d constantly tried to wash but somehow always grew back to an enormous size. Suki ambled to the couch, flopping down on it.

Floorboards creaked under Felix’s feet as he crossed the small space, sitting besides Suki, who nuzzled against him, melting into his touch. Felix tangled his fingers in Suki’s long hair, untangling a few knots as he worked his way down to the small of Suki’s back.

“Why were you busy the past few weeks?” Suki ventured, and Felix shrugged, an unreadable look in his eyes.

“Family business. My older bro got sick, and Dad was away so I had to watch over him. He’s getting better, and I trust him to take care of himself now.”

“...oh. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I should be the one sorry to you for not letting you know sooner.”

Suki rested his head on Felix’s chest. “It’s alright. I understand.”

A moment of silence, then, “Felix… do you love me?”

“Of course. You’re mine, babe. Never forget it.”

Suki nodded, satisfied with the answer. As his lover began to drift off, Felix felt his lips curl into a smirk.

Poor, oblivious Suki had _no_ idea.

* * *

Suki sighs, running a hand through his hair. “After I fell asleep, he took some money from my safe. I didn’t know he ran off with a part of my stash until Jack called me and said Felix had turned up with some cash and invited some friends to go out. That was the first warning sign.”

Kirito eyes his hair. Once a silvery-white, flowing smoothly down his back like a waterfall, it’s now a short, dark, spiky mass. The brunette had woken up one morning to see Suki carefully snipping off the ends of his locks in the bathroom, a bottle of black dye sitting by the sink.

“The call was about two weeks after he did it, but what ticked me off was that it happened only a couple days after he visited. It sounded completely normal, but I had a hunch and I went and looked over my stash again. Turns out Felix did take a ton, but he played it off when I confronted him, saying he didn’t know what happened, and I didn’t take a close look all back when I accused him of stealing. He was probably siphoning off of it for a while, but by the time I realized, he’d taken almost two thousand dollars.”

Andromeda whines, looking up at Suki with mournful eyes. She licks his hand, and he wipes her saliva off under the guise of petting her. The dog doesn't seem to mind.

“That’s terrible. I’m so sorry you had to deal with him...” Kirito’s voice is quiet. “Wasn’t the stash for paying off your debts?”

Suki heaves a sigh. “It was. It took me a good nine months to earn it all back, and more. I even had to go back to my parents and beg for help.”

He strokes Andromeda’s head, and her tail thumps against the mattress.

“But that’s not all. He got possessive. I wasn’t allowed to have any close friends, or even look at anyone a particular way, and I had to break off my friendship with Suji and Near. I was pretty dependent on him for a while.” Suki leans back, closing his eyes. “Felix made himself the most important thing in my life then. I couldn’t live without him.”

A memory surfaces in the brunette's mind - a lone figure standing walking under a streetlight. Hair that shimmered as the weak yellow beams shone down on it. Torn edges on the hoodie, clearly worn out. Slumped shoulders, downcast eyes, hands shoved into the hoodie's pockets. Suki.

“What about me?” Kirito gives a tiny smile as the scene fades to the back of his mind.

“You’re my life, yes, but you’re not like him. He took advantage of me, and manipulated me into absolutely having to depend on him. Kirito, you’re my support too, but you don’t drag me down like Felix did.” Suki returns the grin, pressing a kiss into his boyfriend’s fluffy brown hair. “You helped me a lot as well, you know. Since we got together, I’ve accepted it and Felix is just a part of my past now. You’re my present and future, and I don’t need to dwell on the past.”

“Ha, I’m glad I have you, too, even if I didn’t have such a toxic ex.” Kirito’s silent for a moment. “Remember when we met?”

“Perfectly. I was depressed and angry from the breakup, you were lively and welcoming, and of course Near was there to get us to date.”

“Near was your savior,” laughs Kirito, ruffling the thick fur around Andromeda’s neck. The husky barks in agreement despite not knowing a single thing he was saying.

“And Andromeda, too.” Suki chuckles. She perks up at the mention of her name, tail wagging and eyes wide, tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth..

“So what are you going to do about the email?” Kirito asks once he stops laughing.

“I’m not sure yet… I’m thinking a selfie or two with you and a good old ‘fuck off, I’m already taken’. What do you think?”

“Sounds perfect.” Kirito gets up and races over to the table, unplugging the charger and grabbing Suki’s phone. He brings it back, offering it to its owner.

As Suki accepts the phone, the brunette sits back down and presses himself against the other. Suki opens up his camera, then reaches his arm out, and he and Kirito flash smug smirks at the screen as the camera clicks.

“Perfect,” Kirito says, snatching Suki’s phone and clicking his gallery. “Felix is gonna be so mad he lost such a good boyfriend to me.”

Suki plucks the phone out of Kirito’s hands, and said person makes an indignant noise.

“Woah, I never said just one picture. Should we take another one kissing?” Suki suggests, a wicked smirk on his face.

Kirito doesn’t wait to catch his lover’s lips with his own, earning a startled squeak. Suki leans in, his free hand snaking around Kirito’s neck and pulling the other closer.

Click! The camera snaps another photo.

Yep, Suki thinks. Felix will definitely be pissed.

He has no regrets.


End file.
